- Myanmar: Thai woman suspected in death of US diplomat gets 1-year prison term
Source: SFGate
“A Thai woman accused of killing her ex-husband, a U.S. diplomat, has been sentenced to one year in prison for violating Myanmar’s immigration laws, but she still might go to trial for murder, a lawyer familiar with her case said Wednesday. The court in Yangon’s Kamayut township on Tuesday found Pavinee Supasirivisan guilty under a provision applying to any foreign national who commits a crime in the country, according to the lawyer. The charge carries a sentence ranging from six months to five years, the lawyer said on condition of anonymity to avoid possible repercussions from Myanmar’s military-backed government, which exercises tight control over information. Pavinee is being held at Insein Prison. Neither U.S. nor Myanmar officials have publicly named the dead man, but the New York Post and other Western media have identified him as 43-year-old Daniel Paul Riva, who served as a U.S. State Department assistant regional security officer.” (08/26/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/a-thai-woman-suspected-in-myanmar-death-of-us-22404396.php
- UK: Inquest opens into death of ex-Cambridge University professor Jason Arday
Source: ABC News
“An inquest opened Wednesday into the sudden death earlier this month of Jason Arday, a Cambridge University professor who faced a storm of plagiarism accusations. Arday, 41, who became Cambridge’s youngest [b]lack professor in 2023, was found dead at an address in south London on Aug. 13, days after he resigned his post as professor of sociology of education following intense media scrutiny of his credentials and many of the other claims he had made about his accomplishments outside of academia. The inquest opened with a short hearing at London Inner South Coroner’s Court. Any deaths in the U.K. that are deemed to exhibit uncertainties of one form or another are investigated by a coroner.” (08/26/26)
- US mortgage rates hit highest level in 3 weeks, weakening demand further
Source: CNBC
“Mortgage interest rates moved even higher last week, causing demand for loans to weaken yet again. Total mortgage application volume dropped 1% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of up to $832,750 increased last week to 6.78% from 6.77% the prior week, with points rising to 0.66 from 0.65, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment. That is the highest level in three weeks. Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly rate moves, fell 2% for the week. They were 17% lower than the same week one year ago, when rates were 9 basis points lower.” (08/26/26)
- At least eight killed, hundreds missing after Nepal flash flood
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Nepal sent helicopters to the rescue after a huge flash flood swept away villages, killing at least eight people and damaging roads, bridges and power projects in areas near Tibet, authorities said. Officials said 384 tourists, including 291 from countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, India and Malaysia were reported missing as a result of the flash flood on Wednesday. The waters were too high for helicopters to land in Nepal’s affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000, officials said. … Across the border, Tibet reported ‘major casualties’ with people missing in the neighbouring county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a land crossing between China and Nepal, the Xinhua official news agency said.” (08/26/26)
- Canada surpasses California as largest cannabis market in the world
Source: SFGate
“California’s leaders love to brag about the state’s legal cannabis market being the largest in the world. Even when the legal market has shown deep problems and dysfunction, leaders could say that at least California was still No. 1. However, that no longer appears to be true. Canada’s federal government released data last week showing that its June sales totaled $517.8 million Canadian dollars, or about $374.5 million in U.S. dollars. That’s more than the $372.4 million that California sold the same month, according to the Department of Cannabis Control, meaning California has lost its superlative status. The two markets have some clear differences, notably that Canada is an entire country while California is a state. But both have similar populations; California has 39.5 million people while Canada has 41.4 million, and the differences have not stopped California’s leaders from making the international comparison in the past.” (08/26/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/california-falling-cannabis-market-22401030.php
- District court judge rules Texas drag show ban unconstitutional
Source: United Press International
“A U.S. district court has blocked Texas from banning drag performances as unconstitutional, ruling that the solution to the problem is for those who find such events offensive to just not attend. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law in June 2023 to ban ‘sexually oriented performances’ via civil penalties on businesses that host them and criminal penalties on performers. It has been debated in the courts since, with a court ruling it unconstitutional in 2023 and an appeals court in February allowing it to take effect while sending the case back to the district court for review. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner, a Reagan appointee who issued the 2023 ruling, declared Senate Bill 12 an unconstitutional restriction on speech and ordered that the state be permanently enjoined from enforcing it.” (08/26/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/08/26/judge-blocks-Texas-drag-ban/1651787727211/
- Swiss to Vote on Whether to Tighten Neutrality, End Peacetime Cooperation With NATO
Source: US News & World Report
“Swiss voters will decide in a referendum next month whether to approve a more restrictive form of neutrality that would block their country from imposing economic sanctions or cooperating with NATO. Posters featuring doves of peace and asking voters to reject war have appeared across the Alpine nation in a campaign that has won the backing of the Kremlin but has raised fears that it could isolate Switzerland from its European neighbours. Opinion surveys suggest voters will reject the proposal …. Swiss neutrality, internationally recognised since 1815 and part of the country’s constitution since 1848, kept Switzerland out of both world wars. But this status is under threat after Switzerland imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said Christoph Blocher, a veteran politician and backer of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) which supports the campaign.” (08/26/26)
- TX: Talarico wants to unearth Paxton’s depositions to keep focus on opponent’s past in Senate race
Source: SFGate
“James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, wants to reveal depositions involving Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent, as part of an ongoing effort to keep the focus on Paxton’s history of scandals. The depositions involve a civil case where Unity Resources, a mineral assets company, was accused of fraud. Paxton was connected to Unity but not a defendant, and the case was settled. Talarico’s campaign confirmed it asked a court on Wednesday to release the documents. The Democratic state representative is counting on voters recoiling from past accusations against Paxton, the Texas attorney general, even though similar tactics have failed in previous campaigns. … Talarico also has talked about how Paxton was impeached, although Paxton was later acquitted, and how he faced criminal charges for securities fraud, which ended with an agreement with prosecutors involving restitution payments but no admission of guilt.” (08/26/26)
- Trump regime violated court order on attempt to rig elections using USPS, judge says
Source: Axios
“A Massachusetts judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration violated a nationwide injunction by finalizing a rule that would significantly overhaul mail voting if allowed to take effect. The order allows the Trump administration to publish the rule Wednesday, but the U.S. Postal Service remains barred from making the dramatic changes to mail-in ballots. … Tuesday’s ruling came in response to a motion from the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts asking Talwani to enforce her nationwide injunction blocking the new mail-ballot rules. The injunction bars the administration from directing USPS to reject ballot mail that doesn’t comply with the administration’s new design requirements until after the 2026 midterms.” (08/25/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/08/25/usps-mail-voting-rule-injunction
- German airport worker dies of malaria after “mosquito arrives on plane”
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A Frankfurt Airport worker has died of malaria after a rare outbreak led to six employees contracting the serious infection spread by mosquitoes. It is believed the mosquitoes arrived at Germany’s busiest airport on a plane, according to German public health officials. The remaining five infected individuals are receiving medical treatment, a spokesperson for airport operator Fraport said. Traps have been installed at the airport and mosquitoes captured will be analysed in a laboratory to determine their species and origin. ‘Sadly, we must confirm that one employee has died as a result of the infection,’ the Fraport spokesperson told the BBC. ‘We have provided comprehensive information to all employees and encourage them to consult a doctor if they experience any symptoms.'” (08/26/26)
- Pakistan: Hospital fire kills 14 newborns
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“A fire erupted early Wednesday in a nursery for newborns at a major government hospital in Pakistan’s capital, killing 14 babies, according to hospital officials and the government. The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad housed at least 15 newborns in the nursery from the fire that began about 6:45 a.m. local time after an air-conditioning unit compressor exploded inside the nursery on the third floor, hospital and rescue officials said. The fire was confined to the nursery in the gynecology ward, while the rest of the hospital remained unaffected and there were no other injuries reported, according to hospital officials and witnesses. Television footage showed rescue workers using ladders to reach the area through broken windows.” (08/26/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fire-pakistan-hospital-newborns-9.7320737
- Testimony concludes in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial; Jury to hear closing arguments Thursday
Source: SFGate
“Trial testimony concluded Wednesday in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of strangling her three young children in a case that has drawn attention to postpartum mental health. Closing arguments are expected to begin Thursday, before the jury begins deliberating. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, with her lawyers arguing she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan Clancy at the family’s home in coastal Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. The rare mental illness is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.” (08/26/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/fbi-psychiatrist-returns-as-lindsay-clancy-murder-22404308.php
- OK: Trump-backed Mazzei defeats Drummond in GOP gubernatorial runoff
Source: The Hill
“Former state Sen. Mike Mazzei (R) is projected to defeat state Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) in the Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma governor — a win for President Trump who backed Mazzei in the contest, according to Decision Desk HQ. Drummond and Mazzei, a financial planner, were vying for the GOP nod to succeed term-limited Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). It’s a critical victory for Trump after several of his initial primary picks in Iowa, Georgia, Minnesota, South Carolina and Wyoming lost their elections earlier this year, raising questions about the power of the president’s endorsement.” (08/25/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6042137-mazzei-wins-oklahoma-gop-runoff/
- Dolly Parton, 1946-2026
Source: New York Times
“Dolly Parton, the country singer, songwriter, entertainer and entrepreneur whose rags-to-riches story, outsize persona and prodigious vision and talent placed her in a class by herself, died on Tuesday in Nashville. She was 80. … Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on Jan. 19, 1946, the fourth of 12 children of Robert Lee and Avie Lee (Owens) Parton, in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Sevier County, Tenn. … Ms. Parton made her recording debut in 1959, the same year she made her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. In 1962, she signed a songwriting deal with Tree International Publishing (now part of Sony Music Publishing). Two years later, she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school. … Ms. Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2005. In 2022, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” (08/25/26)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/arts/music/dolly-parton-dead.html
- Iranian, Omani regimes outline plan for temporary Hormuz shipping lane
Source: CNN
“Iran and Oman outlined a proposal Tuesday to jointly establish a temporary shipping channel through the Strait of Hormuz, according to regional officials, after weeks of fraught discussions between the two countries. … Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi visited Iran and held consultations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the state-run Oman News Agency (ONA) reported earlier. After the meeting, the Omani foreign minister said he was ‘hopeful’ both nations would ‘soon announce a temporary corridor’ for the strait. … Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a telephone call and discussed the proposed temporary shipping channel …. Qatar has previously voiced support for the efforts between Oman and Iran to reach an agreement over the Strait of Hormuz, despite US President Donald Trump’s threat to attack Oman if it interferes with US operations in the strategic waterway.” (08/26/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/world/live-news/iran-war-trump
- US Secret Service suspends top spokesman and two others as misconduct mystery grows
Source: Independent [UK]
“Three non-law-enforcement U.S. Secret Service officials have been placed on administrative leave following the launch of an internal inquiry by the agency’s professional standards office. The three personnel were working in non-operational roles when the inquiry into potential misconduct began, according to reports from the agency’s public information office. The specific grounds for the action remain unclear as the Office of Professional Responsibility carries out its formal review. Among those suspended is Anthony Guglielmi, the agency’s chief of communications. The move follows disclosures last month that a member of Vice President JD Vance’s security team came under scrutiny over allegations tied to a suspected news leak, the U.S. Secret Service said Thursday.” (08/26/26)
- Military enslavement fears grip Russians as Kremlin’s forced recruitment spikes
Source: euronews [EU]
“Russian security forces are detaining civilians off the streets and pressuring them to sign military contracts, as reports emerge that the Kremlin is preparing for a new wave of mobilisation for its ongoing all-out war in Ukraine. In mid-August, the Russian human rights project Idite lesom received 14 appeals from people who said security forces had detained them and forced or pressured them into signing military contracts, either at police stations or directly at military enlistment offices. … Russian officials have denied any plans for mobilisation. ‘We do not need mass mobilisation at the moment; it is neither planned nor expected,’ Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said on Friday. He added, ‘As far as I know.’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday described reports about mobilisation preparations as attempts to ‘stir up the situation ideologically’ inside Russia.” (08/25/26)
- SC: Graham wins GOP primary runoff to replace brother in US Senate
Source: ABC News
“Sen. Darline Graham — a political newcomer appointed to the seat held by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham — will win a special GOP primary runoff to replace her brother on the South Carolina ballot, the Associated Press projected Tuesday. Graham, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, defeated Rep. Ralph Norman, a staunch conservative and member of the hard line Freedom Caucus, who had also advanced to the runoff, following South Carolina’s special Senate primary earlier this month. Graham will face Democratic candidate Annie Andrews in November.” (08/25/26)
- CA: Judge upholds Avenal recall of mayor, three councilmembers
Source: Fresno Bee
“The legal battle among the City of Avenal, Kings County and recall organizers over the city council recall election on April 28, came to an end Monday after Kings County Superior Court upheld the election results, finding irregularities did not affect the outcome or violate legal procedures. The court ruled defendants — recalled Mayor Alvaro Preciado and Councilmembers Leticia Gamez, Pablo Hernandez and David Reynosa — unlawfully held office as members of the Avenal City Council. The court declared those four seats vacant as of May 28. … The recalled officials had refused to step down despite the election’s certification on May 28, leading to a legal battle. The city claimed the recall process was illegal.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/article316996464.html
- Germany: Third drone and suspected military explosives found near Leipzig airport
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“German investigators uncovered a third drone and suspected military explosives thought to be connected to an attempted attack on Leipzig airport, local media have reported. The drone was discovered in Kabelsketal, just to the west of the airport, along with about 50g (1.8oz) of a suspected military explosive on 14 August, 10 days after the unsuccessful sabotage. Leipzig airport is a cargo and military logistics hub used by Nato and Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines for transporting military supplies. The office of the prosecutor general, which is leading the investigation, declined to comment on Tuesday. But the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the government would soon provide information about who it believed was behind the drone attacks.” (08/25/26)
- Brendan Carr’s Vendetta Against ABC Conflates the “Public Interest” With Trump’s Personal Grievances
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum“President Donald Trump has been threatening to yank the licenses of broadcasters who irk him since his first term. But this time around, the FCC’s Trump-appointed chairman, Brendan Carr, seems eager to act on that vindictive impulse. Carr portrays the ABC review as a response to ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ programs that may qualify as ‘unlawful discrimination.’ But he has made it clear that the FCC also is considering the broader question of whether ABC’s stations are serving ‘the public interest,’ a vague statutory mandate that he views as a license to override freedom of the press.” (08/26/26)
- $50 trillion in debt not a distant threat, America is speeding towards it
Source: Fox News
by Ted Jenkin“In the 1999 movie ‘The Matrix’, Agent Smith hears a train approaching and delivers one of the iconic movie lines: ‘That is the sound of inevitability.’ America, listen closely. Our national debt just blew through $40 trillion, and unless Washington dramatically changes course, that train has another destination coming into view very quickly. $50 trillion. Yes, $50 trillion. But wait! There’s more! It could happen by 2030. Yes, by 2030. This isn’t a Republican problem. It isn’t a Democratic problem. It’s now an American math problem. The Congressional Budget Office projects a federal deficit of approximately $1.9 trillion in 2026. But that’s hardly the end of it. CBO projects deficits totaling more than $23 trillion from 2026 through 2035. Think about that.” (08/26/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/50-trillion-debt-not-distant-threat-america-speeding-towards-it
- Profiting from Government Didn’t Begin with Trump
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe“In total, the Trump family is estimated to have made over $2 billion since Trump returned to office. … It is understandable why most Americans find this upsetting, especially after Trump launched a war that predictably raised gas prices for a population already struggling with a years-long inflation crisis. … Trump is visibly using his power to make his own family richer while his policies leave most American families worse off. But the key word there is visibly. Because the truth is that, despite what establishment Trump critics want us to think, Trump did not bring this kind of ‘corruption’ to the White House; he’s just not trying as hard to hide it. This is what states do. And it’s what they have always done.” (08/26/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/profiting-government-didnt-begin-trump
- SCOTUS Mail Voting Ruling Is Manufactured Chaos
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
by Michael Waldman“In November, we should be able to have elections that are free, fair, and secure. But it will take a lot of work between now and then. We saw that for sure this week. On Monday, the Supreme Court made headlines and sowed confusion, but it did not change much. Here’s what you should know. Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order to upend mail voting. That is the way 1 in 3 Americans vote. Trump purported to order the US Postal Service to refuse to deliver lawfully cast ballots unless the voter is on a list (which doesn’t exist yet) created by each state and sent to the post office for checking against mail ballots. It’s absurd. And, no surprise, it’s illegal.” (08/25/26)
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/noise-and-confusion-supreme-court
- The Truth About Data Centers
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Stephen Weese“You probably haven’t heard of too many examples of successful data center developments, and that’s partly because ‘something worked; everything is just fine’ is not a common news story. However, CNN recently reported on exactly that: Quincy, Washington, is home to over 30 data centers and has experienced an incredible boom as a result. The data centers now cover an estimated 57% of Quincy’s property tax revenue, funding a wave of public infrastructure projects: a $15 million aquatic center, a 143,000-square-foot indoor sports complex, a $120 million high school, a new hospital, library, police and fire stations, paved sidewalks, sewage systems, and a wastewater treatment plant. Residential electricity rates in the county rose 3.5% last year, while large industrial users, such as the data centers themselves, absorbed a 9.1% increase. The data centers there are paying for their own added infrastructure and generation costs rather than spreading those costs to households.” (08/26/26)
- Four Forms of Numericide
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Alan Cassels“Now the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and BMI, threatening to strike you down in your healthy middle age unless you submit to the testing, treating (ie: medications and lifestyle changes), and a retesting paradigm which can lead many to become obsessed by the numbers. By the way, these four measures have one thing in common: They are typically treated with a prescribing pen that has been carefully guided in your doctor’s expert hands by the helpful people in the pharmaceutical industry. Just saying …” (08/26/26)
- Democrats Are Making a Run a Red State Senate Seats
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye“The midterm election is a little more than two months away, and voters who spent the summer tuning out politics are beginning to pay attention. Campaign advertising is picking up, candidates are settling into their general-election messages, and the small number of voters who haven’t already chosen a side are starting to take a closer look at the people asking for their votes. They don’t particularly like what they see. Nearly two-thirds of voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Trump’s approval rating remains underwater, Democrats hold a roughly 6-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot, and Republicans are now defending Senate seats in states that shouldn’t be competitive.” (08/26/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/democrats-are-making-a-run-a-red
- Trump wants to stabilize Libya. Militants have other plans.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Khaled Mahmoud“A series of crises have roiled Libya over the last month, undermining a U.S.-led initiative to resolve the country’s profound political predicament and open its markets to American investment. Violent protests over deteriorating living conditions have surged in western cities under the control of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, just as a series of drone strikes have hit energy and oil facilities in the city of Zawia, west of Tripoli. In the east near Benghazi, which is under the authority of strongman Khalifa Haftar, unknown assailants assassinated Major General Fawzi al-Mansouri, Haftar’s head of military intelligence. This chaotic stretch of events prompted the U.S. to belatedly recognize that the deteriorating security situation could undermine its peace initiative.” (08/26/26)
- Carville Releases His Signature Uncut Product to a Nation of Rage Addicts
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“In Breaking Bad, the character Walter White explains to a major drug dealer why cheaper knockoffs of his signature Blue Sky methamphetamine are just not enough: ‘So… it’s grade-school tee-ball vs. the New York Yankees. Yours is just some tepid… off-brand, generic cola. What I’m making is classic Coke.’ This week, James Carville released his own uncut, undiluted classic product to a nation of rage addicts. Blue Sky rage. What set off Carville was telling. He and others were outraged that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner to discuss areas of common ground. Such dialogue ‘with the enemy’ is unthinkable in an ‘age of rage’, particularly for someone like Carville who previously threatened that, once Democrats are back in power, Trump supporters would be treated the same way as Nazi collaborators after World War II.” (08/26/26)
- Isn’t the free part of free market capitalism so lovely?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“It is wholly true that there is no such thing as a ‘free market’. All interactions between humans are intermediated by culture, the law, geography, language and so on and so on. Which is why we neoliberal types normally don’t mean that version of free. Rather, we mean a market that someone is free to enter. You’ve got a new idea, can you set up and try it out? Yes, obviously, there will be constraints, can you gain finance, planning permission, find the staff and on and on. But all of these things run along a spectrum, we can talk of markets that are freer to enter than others. And, our – most neoliberal, we confess – contention is that the freer to enter the more such markets will serve consumers.” (08/26/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/isnt-the-free-part-of-free-market-capitalism-so-lovely
- Why Iran Might Escalate
Source: Foreign Policy
by Saeid Jafari“It now appears that instead of continuing bombing campaigns, the United States is relying on economic warfare and a naval blockade to secure Tehran’s capitulation. For Washington, this would minimize the risk to its forces and the pressure on its munitions stockpiles. For Tehran, in turn, this disparity of costs represents a challenge. As a result, Iranian political and military figures have called for Iran to respond with a more offensive military doctrine. They argue that Iran should now take steps to change the situation and make the United States pay much more for keeping the blockade in place.” (08/26/26)
- Why Warrantless Flock Safety Cameras Threaten American Freedom and How Local Towns Can Fix It
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“This year, 136 communities have rejected or banned the technology, and citizens are outraged, as evidenced by over two dozen states taking direct action against 193 camera installations. Mass surveillance fails the practical test because it treats every law-abiding neighbor as a perpetual suspect while government expands the network with automated police drones. Genuine public safety depends on focused, accountable law enforcement rather than dragnet data collection.” (08/26/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/why-warrantless-flock-safety-cameras
- The GOP midterm convention is for an audience of one. Trump.
Source: USA Today
by Chris Brennan“Some political pitches are more challenging than others. And some, like the pitch the Republican Party will try to make to midterm voters in two weeks, are damn near impossible. The Republican National Committee is hosting a ‘midterm convention’ on Sept. 9 and 10 in Dallas ‘to celebrate the accomplishments of President Donald J. Trump, showcase the strength of the Republican Party and its slate of candidates, and unite Americans around a bold vision for the future.’ If that sounds disconnected from reality, then you are probably in close touch with reality. Trump is so deeply unpopular that the convention platform and attention that he clearly covets could backfire for his party. … This is the state of the Republican Party, distorted by Trump into his own MAGA image, always boasting with blustering bunk, always eager to deny the truth that everyone can see and hear.” (08/26/26)
- The US military is at war with its own newspaper
Source: Expression
by Jacob Gaba“At the height of World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower didn’t want the military’s independent newspaper to become a propaganda tool. He expected his subordinates to keep their ‘hands off’ Stars and Stripes. More than 80 years later, the Pentagon has fired the newspaper’s leaders after they publicly defended that very principle. Last week, the Pentagon fired Erik Slavin, editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, for ‘insubordination.’ Slavin says he was fired for telling CBS in a recent interview that it would be a ‘red line’ if the government told him, ‘Don’t run a perfectly accurate story. Run this instead. Here it is, written by the Pentagon.'” (08/26/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/the-us-military-is-at-war-with-its
- Can Democrats Take Advantage of How Much Everyone Hates Trump’s Iran War?
Source: Common Dreams
by Tom Gallagher“Amidst the tragifarce of President Donald Trump’s apparently off-the-top-of-his-head war on Iran may lie a silver lining for the 2028 presidential election—a silver lining that comes with two big ifs. One, of course, is the if that goes with everything involved with the race: If there is a fair election. The if specific to the hoped-for silver lining is if there is a candidate willing and able to make use of it. Ever since Gallup started public opinion polls, when it has come to questions of war, they’ve shown the American public favoring every one at the start, until now, with Donald Trump launching the first war to encounter immediate objection from a majority of the American public.” (08/26/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/can-democrats-ever-be-the-anti-war-party
- Friendship With America Can Be Fatal
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider“Henry Kissinger famously (if apocryphally) said, ‘It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.’ This may be the year the world finally got the message. President Donald Trump said he wanted his legacy to be ‘the wars that we end—and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.’ It won’t be. Instead, he will be remembered by history as the president who squandered trust in and respect for Washington and brought the post–Cold War era of American hegemony to an end.” (08/26/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/friendship-with-trumps-america-can-be-fatal/
- Hume’s Political Mechanisms
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia“David Hume thought philosophically about politics. If he had not, John Witherspoon, the Princeton educator who taught a future president, a future vice president, as well as future judges, senators, and representatives, would not have recommended his writings to his students. Thomas Reid, the Scottish philosopher, would not have developed an entire system of thought—taught in Scotland and the United States for the next century—as a direct response to Hume. Theologians, such as Jonathan Edwards, and college presidents, such as Timothy Dwight, Edwards’ grandson, would not have wrestled with and publicly commented on Hume’s philosophy. Had Hume not thought philosophically about politics, we would not be reading about him today.” (08/26/26)
- The Dollar Was Always the Leash
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat“In 2014 the French bank BNP Paribas pleaded guilty to processing transactions for Iran, Cuba, and Sudan and paid an $8.9 billion settlement, its dollar-clearing business barred for a year. No French court convicted it. No French statute was broken. A European institution was fined nearly nine billion dollars by a foreign government for conduct that was legal where it occurred. Every treasurer in every bank outside the United States understood the message, and has behaved accordingly ever since. It was not meant to be this. When the dollar emerged from the last world war as the axis of global settlement, its dominance was a matter of commercial convenience—the currency everyone happened to hold because everyone else held it too. Convenience hardened into infrastructure, and infrastructure, in the hands of a state that noticed what it possessed, hardened into leverage.” (08/26/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-dollar-was-always-the-leash
- Why Iran Ruffles the Feathers of the United States
Source: Antiwar.com
by M Reza Behnam“Strip away the diplomatic briefings, Congressional hearings and the endless cable news loops about centrifuges, regional proxies and cyber attacks, and you hit a raw unvarnished nerve. What truly disturbs the United States about the Islamic Republic is not its policies, its rhetoric or even its nuclear ambitions. It is Iran’s audacity to exist completely outside the American orbit; and make it work.” (08/26/26)
- Hong Kong Shows How a Free Society Can Become a Dictatorship
Source: American Greatness
by Sasha Gong“Can communism come to America? Until recently, most Americans would have dismissed the question as alarmist, even absurd. The United States has enjoyed constitutional government for nearly 250 years. Its citizens are accustomed to elections, private property, free speech, independent courts, and a press that openly challenges those in power. Surely, many assume, a people raised in freedom would never tolerate dictatorship. The rapid rise of Democratic Socialism has made the question less theoretical. The movement draws strength from the same seductive promise that has accompanied every socialist and communist experiment: government can eliminate inequality by taking greater control over economic life and redistributing wealth more justly. Anyone with even limited knowledge of communist history knows what follows. Equality is promised, but scarcity is delivered. The old upper class is denounced, but a new political class emerges with privileges unavailable to ordinary citizens.” (08/26/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/26/hong-kong-shows-how-a-free-society-can-become-a-dictatorship/
- Exorbitant and Rising Debt Is a National Security Threat
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland“The average voter, from personal experience or attempted avoidance thereof, is probably aware that excessive debt is bad, but he or she may be less clear about its deleterious national economic consequences. Even less obvious are the national security ramifications.” (08/25/26)
- The Trump Trainwreck
Source: Liberal Currents
by Nicholas Grossman“The president’s choices at home and abroad are boosting Democrats’ chances in November.” (08/26/26)
- The Supreme Court needs to remind Trump he has no power over elections
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Erwin Chemerinsky“The Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday allowing President Trump’s executive order on mail voting to go forward is stunningly insensitive to the context: Trump is trying to exercise control over elections when he has absolutely no authority to do so. In one sense, the justices decided nothing, simply saying it was too soon for federal courts to get involved. But in a more important way, the court could have and should have put an emphatic end to the president’s efforts to try to regulate voting operations that are legally the domain of state governments.” (08/25/26)
- The Data Center Backlash Is Just a New Moral Panic
Source: The Dispatch
by Jonah Goldberg“Not all concerns about data centers are so crazy or even unreasonable. They do use a lot of water, though not nearly as much as some claim. They can cause electricity rates to go up. They’re ugly. And, if you’re freaking out about what AI will do to your job or to American society, taking it out on data centers makes a certain amount of sense. Politicians, as a class, tend to indulge moral panics. Which is why it’s no surprise that Republicans and Democrats alike are racing to get on the ‘right’ side of the issue.” (08/26/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/data-centers-artificial-intelligence-moral-panic/
- Government Intervention in the Energy Market
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Avery Frank“A few weeks ago, the City of St. Louis issued a proposal that would require new data center developments to use renewable energy for their operations, among many other requirements. There is now a conditional waiver process to sidestep the renewable requirement if the developer can prove they and Ameren can’t meet it, which is a slight improvement. From a free-market perspective, the flaws of the proposal are clear. The city would be selecting certain types of energy (in this case solar and wind) in the name of ‘clean air’ while excluding from consideration not only energy from coal and natural gas, but even nuclear energy, which also has zero emissions.” (08/25/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/energy/government-intervention-in-the-energy-market/
- The House Always Wins, Even on House-less Kalshi
Source: The American Prospect
by Eleanor Davis-Diver“‘In casinos, the house always wins. With Kalshi, there is no house. We don’t win when our customers lose,’ the nation’s leading prediction market states on its FAQ page, differentiating itself from traditional sports betting. According to its proponents, prediction markets operate on a ‘peer-to-peer’ structure where, instead of a house, the ‘counterparty’ on a bet is another regular person, just like you or me. ‘Unlike sportsbooks Kalshi doesn’t set the odds, other users do’, claims an ad spot currently playing across television and digital platforms, featuring the world’s longest sandwich. These other ‘users’ are known as market makers, a common feature of financial markets, who continuously quote prices for everyone else to ensure consistent liquidity and smooth trading. But contrary to what the advertisement implies, most market makers are not ordinary people but highly advanced trading institutions.” (08/26/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/26/house-always-wins-kalshi-prediction-markets/
- Massachusetts has a better approach for book challenges: Due process
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Isabelle Brito“Parents and community members have every right to criticize what their schools make available and ask officials to reconsider particular books. That’s free speech, too. The problem arises when one individual or group’s political views determine which ideas students can explore in their school library. Massachusetts’ Freedom to Read Law offers a promising solution, one that FIRE has long called for: due process for books. That means fair and clear procedures for reviewing challenged library materials.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/massachusetts-has-better-approach-book-challenges-due-process
- Whose “NAP” Anyway?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Patrick Carroll“A considerable portion of libertarian infighting seems to stem from the largely unrecognized fact that there are two different ways to interpret the non-aggression principle (NAP). On the surface, the NAP seems clear: aggression is wrong. But there is a deontological way to interpret this and a consequentialist way, and these interpretations are mutually exclusive. Deontological reasoning argues people should refrain from acts of aggression, even if that leads to a less free society. Consequentialist reasoning argues people should act to create as free a society as possible, even if that means using aggression.” (08/25/26)
- JD Vance’s Interest in Huey Long Should Be a Red Flag for Conservatives
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm“As a governor and senator, Huey Long is best remembered for his radical proposals to redistribute wealth by force and for criticizing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ as not expansive or progressive enough. So when Vice President J.D. Vance says out loud that he finds Long ‘great’ and ‘interesting,’ that’s worth keeping in mind. While speaking in Ohio last week, Vance invoked Long’s famous ‘Every Man A King’ slogan and hailed Long as a ‘great Southern populist’ who was ‘an interesting guy; kind of a crazy guy.’ … The moment is illustrative both because of Vance’s choice to invoke Long by name—this was a deliberate choice made in a prewritten speech, not some off-the-cuff remark—and for how the vice president seems to have misunderstood the speech he was referencing.” (08/25/26)
- More Military Murders on the High Seas
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“The U.S. military has just announced that it has carried out two more murders on the high seas near South America. This now brings the military’s high-seas murders to more than 200 people. Mind you, in its announcement, the military did not use the term ‘murder.’ The announcement stated that the military is simply enforcing the U.S. drug war. But make no mistake about it: What the military is doing is engaging in state-sponsored murder, which is ordinarily a felony offense. … Under America’s criminal-justice system, the police are not permitted to kill people they suspect of violating federal drug laws. They are required to instead take them into custody, indict them, and prosecute them. The U.S military does none of these things. It just murders the people it suspects, based on top-secret information, of violating federal drug laws.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/08/25/more-military-murders-on-the-high-seas/
- Say It With Me Again: Trump’s Tariffs are Taxes on Americans
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Trade wars are odd in that the dueling governments’ weapon of choice is confiscatory taxation imposed on their own citizens. ‘I’m mad at you — I’m going to break my son’s arm.’ ‘Oh yeah? Well fine, I’ll break my wife’s leg — how ya like them apples?’ ‘You’ve done it now — I’m dousing my whole family in gasoline and lighting a match!’ When I point out how idiotic all that is, a few doofs come back at me with: ‘Buy American — problem solved.’ But no, buying American doesn’t solve your problem as a consumer. You’re going to pay more, whether you pay it directly to Uncle Sam or not.” (08/25/26)
- Are public schools unconstitutional? A Nebraska court will decide.
Source: Washington Post
by Corey DeAngelis“In 2021, Columbia University law professor Philip Hamburger argued that the U.S. public school system violates the First Amendment. ‘Education,’ he wrote, ‘consists mostly in speech, and parents have a right under the First Amendment to exercise authority over what their children hear.’ Forcing families to accept government messaging — or pay a steep price to escape it — amounts to unconstitutional pressure. A lawsuit filed in Nebraska on Aug. 13 brings that argument into court — and could open a path toward universal school choice. Justin Jacobsen and Timothy and Joanna Menter, parents in the Lincoln Public Schools district, are suing state and local officials in Lancaster County District Court. Represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, they are challenging Nebraska’s combination of compulsory education and public-school-only funding.” (08/25/26)
- If Big Tech Needs a New Power Plant, It Should Pay for the Whole Damn Thing
Source: Common Dreams
by Joshua WJ Brown“There is a remarkably simple test for whether the AI boom is actually as economically transformative as its boosters say it is: Make the companies building it pay their own damn electricity bill. Not just the meter at the server warehouse. The whole bill. If a hyperscale data center requires a new power plant, transmission line, substation, distribution upgrade, water system, or grid-reliability backstop, put that cost on the project that caused it. If the economics still work, excellent. Build it. If they don’t, then the public has just learned something extremely important about the business model.” [editor’s note: And if that happens, as it should, this guy will be the loudest whiner that those data centers should then be required to give their excess power generated to everyone else free, because REASONS – TLK] (08/25/26)
- Reports of Increases in Problematic Cannabis Use Don’t Mean We Should Return to Prohibition
Source: Cato Institute
by Jeffrey A Singer“When Americans repealed Prohibition in 1933, alcohol consumption did not immediately settle into the pattern we recognize today. Consumption rose substantially over the following decades, eventually peaked around 1981 and then declined for more than a decade. … Along the way, Americans learned to live with legal alcohol. Knowledge, customs, and social norms evolved around its responsible use. We learned to distinguish drinking from drunkenness. We came to strongly disapprove of drinking and driving and of drinking on the job. People learned to recognize their own limits, and friends and families learned to recognize when someone’s drinking was becoming a problem. None of those norms required us to conclude that, because alcohol can cause addiction, disease, accidents and death, we should prohibit adults from drinking it. Cannabis may be undergoing a similar period of adjustment.” (08/25/26)
- Bond vigilantes for Dummies
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Miles Saltiel“A few weeks ago, the Labour back-bencher, Paula Baker, was held to have disgraced herself with remarks revealing that she hadn’t much of a clue about the bond market. There have been similar such remarks from Zarah Sultana and Nadia Whittome, other Labour back-benchers. Cue for much chuntering by those claiming to know better. But this is silly. Why should Labour back-benchers turn up knowing all about the bond market? They have recently been hired to a new job with new responsibilities. Like the rest of us, they have to learn on the job. Come to think of it, why should you, the reader of this blog, know such things? You’re all about politicians, polls and programmes. Even the freest market of inclinations are no education in the gobbledegook of bonds, with its weird vocabulary and unintuitive arithmetic. So, here’s the ‘for Dummies’ story.” (08/25/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/26/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Fury at Canada Takes Unhinged Turn—and Backfires Badly for Him.” (08/26/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/214744/trump-fury-canada-takes-unhinged-turn-and-backfires-badly
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/26/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“War On Terror? Trump Pulls Syrian Al-Qaeda From US Terror List.” (08/26/26)
- Rising, 08/26/26
Source: The Hill
“Data centers gain massive support — they don’t waste water!” (08/26/26)
- Checks & Balances, 08/26/26
Source: Checks & Balances
“Yuval Levin joins Gregg Nunziata to discuss the Constitution, why institutions matter, and why AI may offer shortcuts but rob us of the process of formation.” (08/26/26)
https://chkbal.substack.com/p/congresss-core-role-is-negotiation
- Interview: Former Strikers Start Cooperative News Organization
Source: In These Times
by Maximillian Alvarez“When workers at the historic Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper hit the picket line in October of 2022, they had no idea that they would be on strike for more than three years — or that the strike would end with new owners taking over the paper and most of the former strikers losing their jobs. But now, a new chapter is being written. This week, workers and community supporters launched the cooperative news organization, the Pittsburgh Progress, which aims to uplift the voices of working-class communities. Working People’s Maximillian Alvarez sat down with several former strikers at the Post-Gazette (now worker-owners of the Progress) to discuss what the birth of the Progress means for working people in and beyond Pittsburgh.” (08/25/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/former-strikers-start-cooperative-news-organization
- Reason Interview: Vinay Prasad
Source: Reason
“Vinay Prasad discusses his departure from the FDA, Fauci’s diaries, and how working for the government made him more libertarian.” (08/26/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/26/vinay-prasad-public-health-in-this-country-is-so-broken/
- The Headlines, 08/26/26
Source: New York Times
“Hegseth’s Army Purge, and Polling Chaos in the Midterms.” (08/26/26)
- Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 167
Source: Gracearchy with Jim Babka
“2nd Amendment Is About More Than Guns.” (08/25/26)
https://rumble.com/v7elh4o-2nd-amendment-is-about-more-than-guns-gracearchy-with-jim-babka-16x.html
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 08/26/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Linguists Are Nihilists | Interview: Colin Gorrie.” (08/26/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/linguists-are-nihilists-interview-colin-gorrie/
- Nonzero, 08/25/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Demis Hassabis and the Quest for AGI | Robert Wright & Sebastian Mallaby.” (08/25/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 08/26/26
Source: Washington Post
“The hidden forces behind America’s baby bust.” (08/26/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/the-hidden-forces-behind-americas-baby-bust/
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/25/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos joins me for our weekly conversation and we’re both quickly tiring of living under the watchful eye of big brother and his helpers. The excuse of ‘I’m not doing anything illegal’ is small comfort when the definition of illegal changes according to whomever is in power.” (08/25/26)
- LPA Solidarity Stream, episode 21
Source: LP Alliance
“David Beito, Phil Saunders, and their proposal for thinking outside the one-or-two-state paradigm.” (08/25/26)
- Rising, 08/25/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appearing to distance himself from recent comments made by leftist streamer Hasan Piker.” (08/25/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/25/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Tulsi Was Right On Iran. Trump Ignored Her.” (08/25/26)
- Trump Watch, 08/25/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Evil of Economic War on Iran.” (08/25/26)
https://www.fff.org/freedom-in-motion/video/trump-watch-the-evil-of-economic-war-on-iran/
- Politics Politics Politics, 08/25/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Is Darlene Graham Already Done in South Carolina? US Hackers vs. Foreign Gangs (with Eric Geller).” (08/25/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/is-darlene-graham-already-done-in
- Tim Shorrock on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott brings Tim Shorrock back on the show to dig into the latest developments between Trump and the leaders of both South Korea and North Korea.” (08/25/26)
- Capital Record, episode 317
Source: National Review
“Discovered, Not Imposed: Bond Yields and Government Intervention.” (08/25/26)
- The Dispatch Podcast, 08/25/26
Source: The Dispatch
“How The U.S. Racked Up Its $40 Trillion Debt.” (08/25/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/how-the-u-s-racked-up-its-40-trillion-debt/